However, they had to hang on for the final few minutes, after Adrian carelessly gave the ball straight to ex-Liverpool striker Danny Ings, who pulled a goal back for Saints.

Klopp played down the significance of the mistake in typically comical fashion, however, saying: “Minute 83 showed up on the screen and Adrian thought ‘I played really well, so maybe like [Alisson] did, maybe I have to make the same mistake like Ali did’.”

The Liverpool boss went into more detail to BBC Sport: “No it wasn’t [close]. If you give a goal like this, the other team is coming up and the other teams feels the intensity of the last week.

“Southampton had one more big chance and if they score then we can’t moan about that – but I think we deserve three points. I’m happy with the performance.

“We gave them a proper boost by that nice pass by Adrian. He has finally arrived because it is his third game and so it is normal for a Liverpool keeper to tick that box [by making a mistake]! Now we can carry on.”

Klopp was pleased with the way his side responded after an intense week, which saw them play 120 minutes in the Super Cup in Istanbul.

“It was so difficult for us today. We showed from the first second that nobody was tired today. We were here to win game, that was the only reason, so we had to fight like crazy.

“I said before the game that most of the headlines were written, everyone was prepared for what looked like a banana skin, because Southampton had lost their first game and we had problems here last year.

“Our plan for the headline was ‘the mentality giants are in town’ – that was my headline. I thought the boys fought for each yard of the pitch and played good football and scored wonderful goals.”